I agree, the fact that you can decline the dates you dont want is basically rewarding the person who sits and enters hundreds of start dates.
If you are financially responsible for EVERY application you submit if you win makes it a much bigger deterrent if 4 of the 10 applications that person submits hit... think about it
As slow and quirky as the application form was, anyone that patient deserves to get a date!
But what about the part about only one trip for the season?
Are you all willing to only get one trip out of the lottery... to let more groups get at least one trip?